Hagar: Reid says Redskins owner tried to buy off Vegas Paiutes

There were some good moments from a "pen and pad" session in Reno last week with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that have yet to be reported.

Reid was asked if Hillary Clinton would run for President.

Reid: "I don't know. I like Hillary very, very much. She would be a great president but she has to make a personal decision first, if she wants to do it."

RGJ: Would you urge her to run?

Reid: "If she asks me I will give her my honest opinion."

RGJ: And what would that be?

Reid: "I will give it to her."

REID WAS ALSO ASKED about the possibility of the Washington Redskins football team changing their nickname. Reid has said in the past he would like to see the team adopt a new nickname.

Yet he threw in a new wrinkle, saying Redskins owner Daniel Snyder tried to give members of the Las Vegas Paiutes gifts for them to support the "Redskins" brand.

"Redskins is a racist name and native Americans believe that," Reid said. "They have tried to buy off some of my Nevada Indians and they have not been able to do that, giving them trucks and stuff like that.

"The Indians, they understand that this is an issue that deals with them," Reid said. "It is a moral issue with them. And he (Snyder) can hang on for a little while but it is not going to go on forever."

Reid's senior adviser for Nevada media, Kristen Orthman added, "Yes it is the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe he was referencing, and they were approached about being given a van by Snyder's group and they declined the van."

My preference would be the Redskins change their name to the Washington Senators. It was the name of a baseball team that played in the nation's capital — off and on — from 1891 to 1971. There was also a Washington Senators NFL team in 1921.

But with the hassle Reid, the senate majority leader, has given Mr. Snyder about his football team's nickname, "the Senators" might be the last name Snyder would choose.